My New Mission: Art, Advocacy and Scam Awareness

It’s been quite some time since I posted anything here. Art and design are still huge passions of mine, and I continue to create. But over the past year, much of my focus has shifted toward scam awareness and consumer protection—work that has become another passion of mine.

That shift began with my investigation into Domestika’s subscription practices. What started as a closer look at one platform grew into something much larger: learning how to document deceptive online experiences, identify recurring patterns and preserve evidence that may help protect others.

The Domestika Plus Review Files: Where Things Stand

If you missed my earlier posts, Domestika is an online course platform popular with artists, designers and other creative professionals. It once had a strong reputation among creatives, but its rapid global expansion was followed by growing complaints about its sales and subscription practices.

Today, thousands of Trustpilot reviews describe people being charged for subscriptions they say they did not knowingly intend to purchase.

Many of these complaints involve discounted course purchases that include a 30-day “free” trial of Domestika Plus. The trial can appear to be a free extra included with the course, rather than enrolment in a subscription that may later renew at the annual price.

Our investigation has documented how that offer is presented across the purchase journey, including the cart, checkout process, account pages and follow-up emails. The evidence has now been preserved and submitted where appropriate. Scam Alert Global has done the investigative work; it is now up to regulators and other authorities to assess the evidence and decide what action is warranted.

If you’ve been affected by unexpected Domestika Plus charges, please join us in this Facebook group that was set up to help with the refund process.

My Work With Scam Alert Global Continues

The investigative techniques I learned while researching Domestika’s subscription practices have also benefited other Scam Alert Global investigations—and I continue to contribute to their investigations.

Scam Alert Global is a free public-awareness initiative focused on prevention, education and early recognition. It is not a law-enforcement agency or a fund-recovery service, and it does not charge people to report scams or access support. Reports are reviewed for recurring language, domains, contact details, payment methods and pressure tactics. When the same elements appear across multiple submissions, they can reveal a broader pattern that might otherwise remain hidden.

Fighting scams is not easy. Careful investigations take time, and the evidence is often technical or difficult for the average person to interpret. That is one reason Scam Alert Global’s partnership with ListCrime is so valuable.

Introducing List Crime: Scam Fighting Got an Upgrade!

ListCrime is a crowdsourced cybersecurity platform and mobile app created to help individuals and businesses recognize online fraud, scams and other digital threats. It was founded by law-enforcement and cybersecurity veteran Steven Bullitt with the goal of making complex threat intelligence more useful and understandable in everyday situations.

The platform gives people several ways to examine something suspicious. Users can check website links and domains before visiting them, submit questionable texts or emails for review, and upload materials such as email files, HAR files, images, QR codes, JSON or CSV data for deeper analysis.

Its AI Investigator draws on information from multiple sources to assess possible risks and produce an immediate report. ListCrime also operates a Community Hub where users, ethical hackers and security professionals can share alerts, compare experiences and discuss active threats.

This combination of accessible tools, community reporting and technical analysis complements Scam Alert Global’s pattern-based investigations. It can help turn an isolated suspicious message, website or payment request into information that may connect with reports from other people.

ListCrime is available through its website and as a mobile app for iOS and Android.

What This Means for the Blog

Art and design will always remain central to this site. At the same time, artists and other creative professionals are frequent targets of commission scams, fake job offers, impersonation, misleading subscriptions and questionable promotional services. Scam awareness belongs in the conversation because it directly affects our work, finances and creative communities.

I’ll continue sharing what I learn through these investigations, along with practical information that can help readers recognize warning signs earlier. The goal is not to create fear. It is to make confusing situations easier to understand—and make it harder for scammers and deceptive businesses to succeed.

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